We have always been and always will be. That’s the essence of reincarnation. There is a part of us that goes on forever. That’s the good news. This should give us a sense of patience and working steadily to get things right in our lives. Life is a circle. We are born, we live, we die, and we are reborn.
Reincarnation is an important aspect of the pathway to enlightenment as it gives us a sense of how to unlock the vast potential that we have: over our long existence, we have learned many, many things. Meditation gives us access to that knowledge We literally tap into a vast memory that we have developed. These aren’t exactly physical memories. While many people certainly remember details of people they were, places they lived, and things they did in other lives, the true value of prior experience is inner: certain feelings and understandings, ways to handle difficult situations, and ways of perceiving that can allows us to enjoy and get more out of life. We know more than we realize.
While we all posess vast knowledge from our past lives, we don’t have access to all the knowledge from those lives automatically. That knowledge lies in potential, in seed form. Depending on how we live our lives, we will either realize that potential or we won’t. The practices and techniques in the Enlightenment Cycle will reawaken past life knowledge. You will find as you meditate that certain things will start to become more clear to you. Skills that you’ve had in prior lives will start to come more naturally to you than they might to others. The skills can be in the arts, careers, languages, athletics, martial arts, etc. , it could really be anything. But in terms of becoming more aware, we are interested in our skills of perception and inner knowledge.
Meditation itself is something that you have likely practiced in previous lives. But when you meditate for the first time, you may find it very difficult. If you persevere though, you will find yourself making breakthroughs, where it becomes much easier and more natural. Eventually it feels like something you’ve always known how to do, and the absence of it from your life would feel very unnatural.
The knowledge of reincarnation gives us a template when following the pathway to enlightenment that makes us realize that we are on an epic journey. The deeper truths in life are not things that we will understand in an instant. We can refine ourselves and expand our view of life in a balanced and happy way, knowing that we have time to make mistakes and learn.
Our physical bodies and personalities, are simply the current vehicle for our consciousness. While our personality will certainly reflect patterns that we are playing out over multiple lives, also referred to as our karma, the way it comes together is unique in every lifetime.
Initially, these may be interesting ideas, but eventually, through meditation and the other practices of the enlightenment cycle, we begin to directly experience this eternality while enjoying the transient moments that make up a particular lifetime.